Oklahoma men's basketball: Freshmen will have big impact in Big 12 games

Then there's OU's freshmen. Hield started Oklahoma's 10-3 run at the beginning of the game with a layup. Hornbeak contributed five points during that run.

Though Hornbeak's court time was limited to 13 minutes, he added one assist and one steal. He also went 3-for-3 from the paint and 2-for-2 from the arch before he tweaked something and sat out most of the game.

As for Hield, he could be seen throwing up an alley-oop, flapping his arms to pump up the crowd and hitting big 3-pointers at crucial times.

Hield went 3-of-5 from beyond the arch and 6-of-11 from the floor overall. But beyond the statistics, he was in the Cowboys' face.

He hustled throughout the game.

He was relentless.

During a stretch of turnovers and fouls, Hield hit the 3-pointer to bring the crowd back to its feet.

As he drained his final trey to put Oklahoma up by seven points with less than eight minutes remaining, Hield fell to the court and into his bench.

Teammates helped him up and sent their freshman back into the Bedlam battle.

 He had already left his impact on the game.